


free fall advances

by thethickofit



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28230255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thethickofit/pseuds/thethickofit
Summary: “You drunk, V?” Jackie teases. “Where’s all this gushy stuff coming from?”“No, no,” V chuckles, if only to soothe his own nerves. “It’s just… New Year’s Eve. New beginnings and all that. I guess all of Misty’s symbolic talk has been getting to me.”(aka 5 times V wants to say "I love you" + the 1 time he actually does)
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand & V, Male V/Jackie Welles, V/Jackie Welles
Comments: 13
Kudos: 112





	free fall advances

**Author's Note:**

> **THIS FIC HAS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE GAME, ESPECIALLY ONE OF THE ENDING PATHS.**
> 
> *It made the most sense to write a corporate V since that's the only lifepath where V and Jackie are longtime friends
> 
> **Title comes from a song by The National called Humiliation. Listen to it if you want to make yourself sad for no reason
> 
> ***V could technically be read as male or female in this fic. Nothing gender specific happens, I just chose to write with he/him pronouns because this fic is extremely self-indulgent
> 
> ****For all intents and purposes, Jackie isn't dating Misty

i. 

On a dry summer night in June, Jackie insists on taking V out for his 21st birthday. 

V vehemently objects. Celebrations are not his style, never have been. And besides, they really shouldn’t. They’re both broke and Jackie knows it. There’s no way they could afford a night out at some overpriced bar, or any type of bar for that matter- real alcohol costs an arm and a leg and there are million reasons why V wouldn’t want to go out but-

-but Jackie is such a smooth talker, and an hour later, at nine thirty six p.m., V finds himself riding shotgun in Jackie’s Quad. They sit in comfortable silence, something that V’s come to appreciate over the years. With Jackie, you don’t have to fill in the space between pauses. 

V breathes a sigh of relief when he realizes that Jackie isn’t taking him to some overcrowded bar or club, but instead, Piez.

“Thank fucking God,” V smiles. Jackie gives him a roguish look as he pulls into the parking lot. 

Piez might be one of the dirtiest, sketchiest diners in Night City, but their pies are to die for. It's been their go-to spot for years. 

“I know drinking isn’t really your thing,” Jackie says knowingly. “But I know you have a soft spot for sweets. C’mon, _vamos_.”

They transverse the near-empty parking lot towards the diner, both of them looking up at the sky. Here, on the outskirts of the city, there are no skyscrapers, no megabuildings to intrude your vision and make you feel claustrophobic. There's just open sky.

There are no stars tonight. There almost never are. You’d have to travel far, far out into the badlands to escape the light pollution and get a chance to see them. But still, even here, it's beautiful. 

They order their food for takeout and head back to Jackie’s car to lean side by side on the hood and eat out of their boxes. 

They eat their desserts in silence. And V supposes that’s the way he initially falls in love, as well. Quietly. Softly. He feels a tug in his chest and swallows it down, files it away to deal with it later. 

Instead, they just eat, staring up at the sky. 

It’s such an ordinary moment, but they are no ordinary pair.

  
  
ii.

On a quiet Monday afternoon in November, V awakes to a knock at his door. 

He ignores it at first. He never gets visitors. It isn’t until he gets out of bed, takes a shower, and gets dressed that he checks his phone and sees three missed messages from Jackie. 

_Front door now!_

_Package!_

_Hurry, before some cabron swipes it!_

V opens his door. Sitting at his feet, a small wrapped box no bigger than a postcard. V picks it up and closes the door behind him swiftly and walks over to his desk to open it up. 

It’s wrapping paper is plain and simple brown. V tears it open, revealing a simple lidded box.

It’s a tie of unexpectedly nice quality. It looks like silk, V assumes, although he can’t tell for sure. He’s pretty sure real silk hasn’t been sold since the 50s.

There’s also a note alongside it. 

_Congratulations on the new job. I always knew you’d make it. -Jackie_

V grins. He’d just landed a job- assistant to one of Arasaka’s top counterintelligence operatives. He had to fight tooth and nail against a thousand other people to land it. It’s not the most glamorous job in the world, but it’s a start. He’d been afraid that Jackie wouldn’t be supportive. Mad, even. But obviously that is not the case.

V opens his phone and messages him back.

_Thanks, haven’t worn one of these in forever._

_Better get used to it. I’m proud of you V._

_I appreciate it. I really do._

_Just don’t forget me when you make it to the major leagues eh?_

_I’ll try not to :p_

iii.

On New Year’s Eve near midnight, V’s mind is caught up in figures.

They’re in V’s apartment, he and Jackie. He gets a pretty good view of the Night City skyline from his window, and Jackie always loves watching the fireworks. From this high up, the people flooding the streets look like ants. Jackie watches in awe as the skyscrapers put on light shows that begin to count down the final minute of 2076.

“Jack, can I tell you something?” V asks suddenly. The words escape from him before he can even convince himself otherwise. 

Jackie's breathes just barely fog up the window's glass. “Go ahead.”

“Sometimes…” V starts. He looks out the window as well so he doesn’t have to look Jackie in the eye.

“Sometimes I feel like you’re the only person in the world that knows me.”

“You drunk, V?” Jackie teases. He gives V a solid shove on the shoulder. “Where’s all this gushy stuff coming from?”

“No, no,” V chuckles, if only to soothe his own nerves. “It’s just… New Year’s Eve. New beginnings and all that. I guess all of Misty’s symbolic talk has been getting to me.”

“Thought you said holidays are bullshit,” Jackie teases.

“I do, or, I don’t know. I did.” V shakes his head. “I just want to say that I-”

The cheers on the ground grow louder and louder until the sky is alight with fireworks. A million drones fly into the air, lighting up the sky even more. For one blinding second, it’s as bright as day. 

New Year’s in Night City is no small occasion. It’s loud. And beautiful. Such an ugly city. Such a beautiful place to live.

V steals a glance at Jackie, who’s already forgotten what they were talking about before in the first place. His face glows pink, orange, blue, admiring the fireworks that explode overhead. 

"It’s quite a view, huh?” Jackie remarks.

“Yeah,” V softly agrees. “Yeah, it really is.”

iv.

_Mr. Welles has passed. Where shall I take his remains?_

“What?” V can barely hear, can barely think. His blood is rushing in his ears- the chip in this head- running a thousand diagnostic sequences. His vision is flooded with warnings- alerts to grab his attention- something about a malfunction-

Delamain continues his robotic speech. _The Excelsior package provides for the disposal of passenger remains free of charge. I merely require a destination._

V doesn’t say anything for a long time. The warnings that cloud his vision begin to trickle down once his OS realizes that he’s not going to acknowledge them anytime soon. He touches Jackie’s face, pulls away once he realizes his own hand is covered in blood. 

“I loved him,” V says aloud. 

Delamain doesn’t respond.

v.

  
On a dry summer night in June, V sits alone on his 28th birthday. 

Of course, he’s never actually _alone._ Johnny’s always there in some way or another, making snide comments or calling V a moron. He sits on the hood of his car, parked at a Red Peaks overlook. 

“I can read your mind, you know.” A voice comes from behind him. 

“Yeah,” V says gruffly. He doesn’t turn around to look at Johnny, figures that if he wants to be seen he’ll just materialize closer. “I’ve kind of gotten used to it. It’s not like you can tell anyone else my secrets.”

“Lucky you,” Johnny says sarcastically. He materializes in front of V sitting on the cliff barrier. He pulls a cigarette out of thin air and lights it up. “But you’re killing me here, man. I can feel your emotions. All of them.” 

“Well, I’m sorry,” V says mockingly.

“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” Johnny takes a long drag from his cigarette, and V watches the holographic smoke fizzle. “I’m sorry about your friend. You've been thinking about him a lot.”

There's no point in trying to hide anything from Johnny. The man has probably sifted through all of his memories by now. 

“It was my fault,” V says quietly. “I was there with him. I could’ve saved him- I could’ve-”

“-No, you couldn’t," Johnny interjects. "But you were there for him. Fuck. Wish someone could've been there for me."

V stays silent a moment. Turns Johnny's words over in his mind.

"I think I needed to hear that,” V finally says.

“You’re tough, kid,” Johnny says. “I’ve met a lot of ambitious people in my time, but you- I think you might actually make it."

“I hope so,” V breathes. “God, I hope so.”

  
⚖

V begins to die the second he slots that fucking Relic in his head.

He's a dead man walking. A fucking ticking time bomb.

And yet all living things are born with the innate desire to live. The will to continue on. Such is animal instinct.

So he fights. He fights like hell. He fights through Arasaka. He picks off guards one by one, blinded by the need to survive.

He dies as he jacks into Mikoshi. He jacks in and uses his remaining strength to crawl into the pool of coolant a few feet away. 

He lets himself float as his OS reboots, watches diagnostics begin to run. His vision fades.

  
And all of a sudden-

-he’s in an elevator going up. It’s old. Cramped. Noisy. And V feels… surprisingly fine. 

The elevator doors creak open to reveal a long forgotten stairwell that leads up to the roof. The one Misty took him to- God, that was an eternity ago.

V walks up the two flights of stairs. He feels like he’s floating, as if in a dream. At the top, there's a rusted door graffitied with expletives. He turns the knob. 

He opens the door. Cold air nips at his ears as he orients himself, shuts the door behind him, and then-

Jackie. 

He’s just sitting there, occupying one of the two lawn chairs set up overlooking the city. Like he belongs. Like everything’s normal. Like V never fucked both of their lives up and they're just hanging out again. 

“Jackie?” V asks meekly.

This isn’t real. In reality, he’s dying in the Mikoshi pool a thousand feet beneath Arasaka tower. Alone. This isn’t real. And yet-

“V,” Jackie says upon seeing him. He gives V a smile.

“Jackie,” V breathes. “Holy shit.”

Jackie doesn’t say anything. He just looks forward, towards the skyline, the way he always does. 

“I missed you,” V finally says. He near collapses in the seat next to him. “I- missed you something crazy.”

“Where have you been?” Jackie says. “I’ve been waiting here for ages”

“I’ve been- busy.”

“Busy,” Jackie echoes. “That’s the V I know.”

“Jackie, listen- I don’t have much time- I-”

Jackie still doesn’t look at him. Keeps his eyes fixed on the skyline. 

“It’ll be alright, V. You’ll see,” Jackie says vaguely. 

“Fuck,” V says. “I love you, Jack. I never got to tell you. I was too scared- I-”

Jackie doesn’t say anything. Doesn't react, can't react. V doesn’t expect him to.

This isn’t Jackie, V has to remind himself. It’s a ghost. A phantom. A part of Jackie that’s always lived in V’s mind somehow manifesting itself, saying the things that V’s always wanted to hear. 

But then Jackie finally turns to him, silently reaches over and takes V’s hand in his own, like he knows that this is what V needs most in the world. To feel that connection one last time. V takes in a deep breath, feels air enter his lungs. It's all so real. Jackie's hands are rough and calloused and warm and-

-his vision fades again. 

V is plunged into darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> real ones cried with Jackie showed up one last time, also I did not edit this super thoroughly so pls comment if u liked or if there are typos that need to be fixed 😩


End file.
